Alpenglow – June 6th Recap

I just had my inaugural show for Alpenglow! Had a blast playing music for you all. If you missed it, you can listen to the show below.

Along with providing you one hour of music each week, I also wanted to highlight a few of the artists I featured during the set, and talk a little bit more about them and why I chose them. It could be something brand new released last Friday, something that is coming out within the next few months, a classic record, something super unique and out there that I just needed to share, a deep cut/demo/b-side/rarity, or something that came out a few years ago that might have gone under some peoples radar.

[Fresh]

This set featured tons of new music that was just released, from Hazel English, to Amber Coffman, to Benjamin Booker, but I wanted to take the time to talk about Montreal based soft rock group TOPS, who decided to travel down south to record their third LP, over in sunny Glendale, California. “Living in LA was living out a teenage fantasy,” says vocalist-songwriter Jane Penny, “ living with your band and practicing in the garage. It was also the first time we’ve ever had that much space to make music. I took the experience of living LA as a challenge to make music that I know is real to me, in the sense of it feeling true and containing true feelings, but also recordings of great songs, the real thing.” Released June 2nd via Arbutus Records.

[Look Out For]

Photo by: Johnny Fabrizio

With a lot of new records on the horizon, I wanted to play a band whose record comes out soon and I am pretty excited about. Chicago based Indie group Ratboys mixes a lot of familiar tones into what they’ve dubbed as “post-country,” which I’ve always called folk punk (but I like their name better). Led by Julia Steiner and Dave Sagan, GN (which stands for Good Night) would be the follow up of their 2015 record AOID. So far the singles have been fantastic, with Westside releasing early this month exclusively on The Line of Best Fit. GN is out June 30th via Topshelf.

[Classic]

I started my show off with my favorite song off this The Lemon of Pink, There Is No There, which had the beautiful sample of Albert Einstein talking about his views on Gandhi, and then, in french, the lyrics “To find another like you, but you’re the one my heart desires.” It’s a lovely way to start your morning and my first show. When it comes to the Books, not many other bands have claimed the folktronica genre. You have Four Tet and Caribou, but to me, the pioneers are Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong. Sadly the band has since split to work on side projects. The Lemon of Pink was the second album from the duo, released October 7, 2003 via Tomlab. Back then, Pitchfork had the album listed at the second best album of the year, beating out Radiohead, the Shins, Broken Social Scene and the Unicorns. If you haven’t heard this album before, give it a listen, it’s unique and bold, and will add definite flavor to your day.

[Worth a Re-spin]

Plaza is the third album from Boston’s psychedelic folk group Quilt. Released February 26th of last year via Mexican Summer, you may have missed it amongst all the fantastic releases we saw in 2016. To me, the album has evolved so much from their previous efforts, it’s a bit fuller when it comes to the sound, a bit brighter, and I love that direction it takes. If you missed out on it last year, you should definitely give it another spin. Unfortunately Quilt don’t have any plans to be in Asheville soon, but side project John Andrews (the guy in the red sweater) and the Yawns will be opening for Woods at the Grey Eagle July 11th.

6/6 Playlist:

Want to request any music for an upcoming show? Obscure, local, big hit, send them my way and I’ll give you a shout out if I end up using it! Tune in next week when I’ll be playing music from Marika Hackman, The Drums, Chastity Belt, and BRAND NEW Alvvays, Tuesday at 7am on 103.3 Asheville FM.